#156: Annie Lin – How to legally sell a cover song

You’ve recorded a really unique cover version of your favorite song and you can’t wait for your fans to hear it. But hold on a second! Have you secured the proper license to release that tune? In this episode, Kevin speaks with Annie Lin from Loudr about when, why, how, and who an artist needs to pay in order to distribute a cover song, and what can go wrong if you don’t properly license your cover song before its release — plus, a little about how Loudr makes cover song licensing easy for independent artists today.

This is a fantastic resource. It really cleared up a ton of confusion about licensing covers songs. I’d like to add it to my new music promotion guide if that’s ok

kbreuner

Daniel – Glad to hear! I’m happy to have you link to the episode if that works for you.

Tommunch

You and Lisa said that Spotify may pay licensing fees on behalf of the cover artist and to check with your distribution partner whether this is true. Since CD Baby is my distribution partner, I’d like to know if the Spotify licensing fees are paid by Spotify or if still need to arrange through Harry Fox or Loudr to pay them. I looked on the CD Baby Artist site, but I couldn’t find anything more about it.